Break A Vase
by Emperor Itaelia
Summary: Despite Jack's warning, Lock, Shock, and Barrel have begun to act up once again, and Jack decides that it's gone too far. Meanwhile, he has to worry about his upcoming wedding. Sequel to Forever By My Doll's Side; The full summary is in the first chapter.
1. The Last Straw

Full summary: Despite a clear warning from Jack, Lock, Shock, and Barrel have begun to act up again. After a simple scheme nearly results in disaster, Jack decides that enough is enough. Meanwhile, the Pumpkin King has to worry about his upcoming wedding and, of course, the plans for next Halloween.

**Disclaimer: Plasma is red, corpuscles are blue, and if you recognize this poem twist, awesome for you! Seriously, though, I don't own Nightmare Before Christmas, and I don't have the money to even try. (I don't own Oogie's Revenge, either, in case you were wondering. I just like the Oogie propaganda posters.)**

Chapter One: The Last Straw

* * *

Jack stared down at the trio in front of him, looking from one guilty face to the next. He could feel anger boiling up deep inside his bones. Part of him wanted to start screaming at them, but his reason reminded him that they were only children, and that he shouldn't get mad at them. He settled for somewhere in between. They had really taken it too far this time. The children stared back at him, looking almost ashamed of themselves.

"We're really sorry, Jack," Shock said, fiddling with the corner of her dress skirt, revealing a small section of the dark lace petticoat underneath.

"We didn't know she'd fall like that," Barrel added, averting his eyes to the ground. Lock nodded robotically, toying with the sharp tip of his devil's tail, rather than let it swish behind him. Judging by their current demeanor, they knew that they were in big trouble.

"What," The kids cringed at the king's sudden harsh tone, "possessed you to do such a thing?"

"We didn't mean to, Jack!" Lock said, speaking for the first time in several minutes.

"We really didn't!" Shock nodded quickly.

The group of four stood in the entrance room of Dr. Finkelstein's manor, next to the start of the spiraling ramp that resembled a section of a marble play-set. A faint whirring sound drifted down from upstairs, but nobody acknowledged it, though they all knew it was there. A few short hours ago, Jack had been looking forward to spending some quality time with his beloved rag doll. Instead, he waited in the entrance hall combined with a kitchen with Oogie Boogie's ex-henchmen, waiting for the doctor to finish his work and for Sally to wake up.

Not many things scared the Pumpkin King, but he had received the scare of a lifetime not too long ago...

Sally, newly the Pumpkin King's fiancée, had been searching through the Witches' Storehouse earlier that day. She had gone in to buy a reel of rayon fabric that she planned to sew into her wedding gown. Sally had always thought rayon was the comfiest fabric in the world, and uncomfortable or scratchy fabric agitated her stitches, so it was only logical that she should choose to wear it for her wedding day. The witches had informed her that they did not have it in the shop, but that she could pay for it and then get it from their storehouse. She had been completely unaware of the three little miscreants that had been tailing her from out-of-sight. They had only played a trick on her once, if they had done their counting right. They really only played practical jokes on those they viewed to be of pranking interest, and Sally had only entered that circle very recently. That day, however, they had double intentions.

"Okay, let's go over the plan once more," Lock had whispered to his friends as they crouched behind a large pile of crates that obscured them from view and muffled their voices, "Barrel, you should go over to Sally and distract her. Shock, you will nab the things we want while Sally's not looking. Barrel will lead Sally towards the stairs, and I'll come up from behind. Then we'll push her, close the door, and exit out the hole in the roof."

Shock had nodded, but Barrel looked uncertain.

"The roof? Will we even fit?"

"Yes," Shock hissed, "The hole's huge, Barrel, even you will fit through."

"Shut up," Barrel glared at her.

"Shhh!" The other two hissed. The three had waited until the rag doll, who was soon to be their queen, had turned away from them. Then, Barrel casually walked out into the open, directly towards her turned back. He wore no shoes, so his footsteps were softer than those of his cohorts.

"Hi, Sally," Barrel chirped in the most innocent voice he could muster. She looked down at him, surprised.

"Oh, hi, Barrel," Sally responded. They made casual conversation for a while, Barrel stepping closer every once in a while, in which she would step back. It wasn't that she was afraid of him, she just liked her space. Without even noticing, she stood a foot or two from the staircase that led back down.

Shock, seeing an opportunity, seized it. She dashed from behind crate to behind crate. She wasn't stupid enough to come into plain sight. With each crate, she quickly read the label. Finally, she found the crate she was looking for, and frowned at the crate that was covering it. She looked towards Lock, the only member of the trio who hadn't moved, and was thankful to see that he was watching her. She jabbed a finger at the crate and mouthed something to him. He nodded to show that he understood, and crept out of his hiding spot. He stayed in the shadows to hide his red attire. Shock put her hands on the crate and started to push the heavy wood off. She had a feeling that it wouldn't fall quietly, so she hoped Lock would work quickly. Using all of her strength, she used her entire body force to push the box, inch by inch. The crate suddenly crashed to the ground, the glass inside shattering. The weight of the crate shook the entire room as shards of broken glass flew in every direction.

Sally's head had spun around towards the source of the crash, but she never saw what had happened. Two pairs of hands roughly shoved her, and she fell back quickly. She crashed into a marble gargoyle at the foot of the stairs, and the world went black.

While Shock eagerly snatched a small blade sharpener, some pranking items, and some jewelry and ribbons for herself (although she rarely to never wore either, she couldn't help but be greedy), Lock and Barrel stared in utmost horror at the scene before them. Shock stuffed the items into her burlap drawstring bag, before noticing that her friends seemed frozen. Scowling, she stormed over to them, opening her mouth to scold them. She fell silent, however, when she realized what they were looking at.

Some skin had been torn on the rag doll's head, and an odd, clear fluid was leaking out of her nose and ears. They had no idea what that was, but it didn't look good. They looked at one another nervously, barely noticing the shouts of alarm from the witches next door, trying to decide whether to flee or stay to see if their future queen was all right. In their many years of reeking relatively harmless havoc, they had never seen this before. Next thing they knew, they had been met with the angry stare of the Pumpkin King. They gulped, staring into his empty eye sockets.

Now, they stood in silence in Doctor Finkelstein's laboratory. Shock swung her bag back and forth, the tiny jewels and metal clanking together softly. Sally's tote bag lay forgotten at her feet, as she had been ordered to bring Sally's possessions to the lab. Lock sat on the side of the stove that wasn't occupied by the large pot, continuing to twist his tail between his fingers nervously. Tiny scratches covered his palms from playing with the sharp point, but it was clear that he didn't care. Barrel sat against the railing on the ramp, staring at the ceiling. The young ghoul muttered incoherently to himself, gently banging the back of his head against the rail. Jack kept looking at each of them. He was angry, but if he had a heart, it would be slamming against his ribcage. His precious rag doll was unconscious upstairs, being operated on. Her creator feared that her brain had been damaged in the fall, and that scared him.

A steady _drip, drip_ echoed through the room, but nobody bothered to find out where it came from. Nobody cared.

After several agonizingly long hours, the whirring upstairs stopped, and Jack looked up as the mad scientist rolled down the ramp towards them. Barrel scrambled out of the way, scurrying over to his friends, who looked down guiltily. They had never caused serious injury before. Jack stood up straight, watching the doctor, ignoring the children in the room.

"She'll recover," Dr. Finkelstein informed him, "She's still unconscious, but she'll recover. It's a miracle that she wasn't severely hurt. If she had been human, she would have probably been killed." At those words, Boogie's Boys cringed simultaneously. Everybody knew that they were bad kids, but they'd never mean to kill anybody.

"Can I see her?" Jack asked, then glanced at the trio, "Er... can _we_ see her?" The bogeyman's ex-henchmen looked at him in disbelief, but made no complaint. They felt as if their voices had been taken right out of their throats.

"There's no point," The doctor muttered, but led them up the ramp, regardless. The trio reluctantly followed after some silent persuasion. Shock left Sally's bag in the entrance hall, but took hers with to insure that nobody looked inside.

Lock, Shock, and Barrel didn't entirely understand why Jack "invited" them along. Did he want to make them feel bad? Maybe, but when they asked, he said nothing. They studied his skull, but his features gave away no trace of his thoughts. This frustrated them, and they continued to pester him all the way up to Sally's old room, where she was currently unconscious in.

"Why do _we_ have to come with?"

"We already said we're sorry!"

"Can't we just go home?"

Jack ignored each question thrown at him. He paused at the door of her room, barely hearing the obnoxious complaints thrown at him. He slowly opened the heavy metal door and crept inside. The trio stopped questioning him, which he was grateful for, as he went over to the iron bed. Hair that resembled a red sea obscured most from view, as Sally had her back to the door. Her eyes were closed peacefully, and a new stitch was noticeable on her head. He ran a skeletal hand over her cheek. She didn't know he had done it, but he did anyway. It was then that he realized that he forgot to ask the doctor something, but when he turned, only the terrible three stood in the doorway.

"Lock, Shock, Barrel, please come here," Jack ordered. The ex-Boogie's Boys didn't dare disagree, and came over to his side quickly. When they were in serious trouble, they had found it better to just obey him, and then disobey him later, if they so wished. The tall Pumpkin King knelt down to their height, and lowered his voice, "Do you remember what I said two months ago? About you three acting up again?"

Their frowns deepened.

"You will not be allowed to go into the human realm on Halloween until you can convince me that you can behave yourselves," Jack told them calmly.

"But, Jack-" They whined.

"No buts," He said.

"But we didn't mean to, Jack! It was an accident!" Shock pleaded, clasping her gloved hands together.

"Yeah! Besides, she's fine," Lock interjected.

"It doesn't matter. If she had been human, she would've died," Jack told them, "you need to learn to control yourselves. I'm not asking you to magically reform, just please, calm down a bit."

They opened their mouths to protest, but he shooed them off. They left the Doctor's manor without another word, avoiding eye contact.

* * *

"This is stupid," Lock growled through his sharp teeth as the cage rose up into the tree house. He had his arms crossed childishly, and his tail lashed about, knocking into the ankles of his cohorts. Shock didn't seem to notice, but Barrel yelped, rubbing the bruise that had budded on his skin.

"We can't trick-or-treat this year!" Barrel whined.

"'Took you long enough to figure that out," Shock said, her arms crossed over her chest. The cage gave a jolt as it came to a stop, and the trio stepped out, not even bothering to close the cage door behind them.

"This is stupid, though!" Lock repeated, barely caring if the others were listening, "It's not like we _meant _to do it! He knows that! But nooooo!"

"It was _your_ idea to push her," Barrel pointed out, but Lock didn't notice. The devil was too busy grumbling to himself.

"Oh, stop your whining," Shock said, sitting down on the part of the hybrid couch that actually had a proper armrest. She flicked a beetle off of the upholstered arm. "It's not like it'll help us."

Lock nearly slipped on a loose marble that looked eerily like an eye of a cat before he marched over to her. "Do you _want _to stay here while everybody else goes into the human world on Halloween Town? Because Barrel and me don't! Right, Barrel?" The youngest nodded in response.

"I don't want to stay here either, smart one, but when does Jack ever change his mind?" The witch sneered darkly. Lock grumbled an incoherent response and walked over to the soda machine, pouring himself a cup and rather violently shoved the straw in. He flopped down on the floor beside their painted tic-tac-toe game on the wall. Shock tugged Barrel's trident out of the wall and used it to impale the small bag of candy sitting some while away from her. She grabbed a caramel apple from the stash and tossed the bag on the floor along with the trident, which clanged noisily to the ground. "Honestly, you're acting like a three-year-old."

Barrel picked up a large, brightly colored toffee that had rolled out of the bag, unwrapped it, and popped it in his mouth. He attempted to join in the conversation, but the toffee had stuck his teeth together. Normally, the trio would start laughing when that happened because it made you talk funny and incoherently. So, when Lock and Shock's mouths didn't even twitch, it was clear that the ex-henchmen of Oogie Boogie took playing devious stratagems on the humans on Halloween very seriously. Not to mention, their greatest reward: the candy. But there was no fun if they had to stay home, no pranks on the mortals, and no candy. The worst part of it? No candy. Their stash was running low, and they didn't know what they would do if they couldn't refill it that Halloween. The very thought was alien to them.

Shock bit into the caramel-coated apple in her hand. She chewed slowly, looking at the two boys that she lived with in apparent concentration, as if trying to read their thoughts.

"What are we going to do?" Barrel asked quietly, but loud enough for his cohorts to clearly hear him. Lock shrugged, and Shock mumbled something that was unintelligible, but it was probably along the lines of...

"Who knows?"

**A/N: You asked for it, and you got it: the sequel to Forever By My Doll's Side! I already have some ideas for chapter two, so expect it to be up quickly.**

**~Inferno Shock**


	2. Kids Will Be Kids

Chapter Two: Kids Will Be Kids

* * *

"Give it back! Give it back!" The young corpse boy whined, reaching desperately for his toy, which was being held high out of his reach. He tried to tug the girl's arm that held the robot down, reaching up with a chubby hand. His attempts were fruitless, however; the ex-lackey of the infamous bogeyman towered above him, and the jolts that brought her arm down weren't powerful enough to put the toy in his reach. The young witch gave out a wicked screech of laughter, tossing the metal action figure into the air and catching it just as smoothly. The toy robot beeped and blinked its lights in protest of being thrown around like a rag doll. The corpse made a wild jump for it, missed, and crashed into the witch, knocking them both to the ground. Vexed and now mask less, she shoved him away with more force than was necessary and stood up. He struggled to get up as she turned the toy over in her hand, examining it.

"This is a weird toy. 'Not Halloween-y at all," Shock said, pressing a button on the robot's chest, making it beep electronically, "Where'd you get it?"

"Jack gave it to me! Now give it back!" The corpse kid said, standing up. He charged towards her, but she held her arm out, and his face made contact with her hand with a loud _smack!_ The overweight corpse wildly swung his arms, trying to reach the older girl to no avail, and his plump little legs were determined to keep running. Shock almost effortlessly held him far out of reach, teasingly tossing it into the air a few times.

"Jack gave it to you?" She asked, raising a thin eyebrow. The wide smile on her face hinted that she was holding back a laugh that was bubbling up inside her. The idea of the master of fright playing with a peculiar toy like that was one that couldn't help but amuse her.

"Give me it!" He yelled, but her hand muffled his words.

"Hey, Shock!" Barrel shouted from a few feet away, "I'm open! I'm open!" With a small smirk, she tossed the toy to her youngest friend, who caught it with ease. The corpse boy pushed the witch's hand away from his face and ran for Barrel instead. Barrel, not having the advantage of height, threw the robot to Lock. The event continued like that for a while, like a game of monkey in the middle, with Lock, Shock, and Barrel chortling the entire time. Before long, the plump boy had tears of frustration forming between the stitches that kept his eyelids shut. The trio eventually grew bored of the little "game", although the corpse kid was exhausted from running back and forth between the three imps and now had fresh tear paths shining on his dirty cheeks. Deciding that the action figure wasn't worth any more of their time, Barrel threw the robot over his shoulder, sending it pummeling towards the foggy abyss that surrounded the ominous tree house. But it never reached the ground. A long, thin hand stretched out and caught it before it disappeared into the mist. The four children stared as the master of fright straightened up.

"What in the world do you think you're doing?" He asked Boogie's Boys, handing the robot figure to the corpse boy, who eagerly grabbed it with pudgy hands and held it close, wiping his tears away.

"What?" Shock asked, "It's his fault. He came over here and tried to steal our bathtub!"

"I was not! I was borrowing it!" The corpse child said in a self-justifying tone. The quartet of children began arguing, although Lock, Shock, and Barrel argued louder and fiercer. They continued to lock horns with the corpse kid, who only tried to pacify them by clearly telling his version of events, until Jack's skull started to pound. He let out a deep roar, revealing his teeth, silencing the group immediately. From what he could gather, Lock, Shock, and Barrel had left their bathtub outside, intending to use it later. The corpse boy had stumbled across the tree house, and decided that he wanted to ride in it without asking permission. The triad of masked trick-or-treaters was very possessive, as Jack knew, and had stolen the kid's favorite toy in revenge. They seemed to view it as "an eye for an eye".

"Alright, this is an easy situation to fix," Jack said, although he was unsure of what he should say. After all, they were old enough to handle it themselves, right? "Ethan, you can stay away from their tree house, and you three can just keep your belongings inside and try not to be mean to people just for coming near your home. Okay?" He asked slowly. Ethan, the corpse child, nodded, eyeing the three older children. Lock, Shock, and Barrel, on the other hand, scowled and turned their noses up. "_Okay?_" He repeated. Their frowns deepened, but they eventually nodded. "Good. Now, if you don't mind – "

"What is that?" The young witch asked suddenly.

"Huh?" The skeletal man asked, distracted. Without him even seeing, she had pulled a folded sheet of parchment out of his jacket. He reached for it, but she quickly stepped out of reach and began to read it out loud.

"Seventeen, August... butterfly milkweed, wood lily, common daffodil, Spanish bluebells, true forget-me-not, or bloodroot... carbonated water... what is this?" She asked. He hesitated for a second.

"Just some plans for my and Sally's wedding," He admitted. Shock raised her thin eyebrows, grinning.

"You never told us that you were getting married, Jack!"

"I guess it just slipped my mind," Jack replied politely. He held his hand out for the paper, but she kept it clutched her gloved hand. He wriggled his fingers slightly, but she glanced at his hand, not even budging. "Can I please have it back?" _Great, you're begging with a child, _he thought to himself, slightly amused. The little witch seemed to consider this.

"What will you give me?"

He was taken aback. "Excuse me?"

"What will you give me for the paper?" She repeated, rolling her charcoal eyes.

"Are you bribing me for it?" Jack asked weakly. What on earth could she want? She gave a tiny smirk, which he interpreted as a "yes". He sighed. "Alright, what is it that you want?"

"Not now. I'll tell you later," Shock said in a surprisingly calm and collected tone, "but you need to swear that you will do it."

Jack hesitated. He did his best to keep promises, but she might request something that he couldn't do, for whatever reason. She seemed to notice that he was debating with himself, for she waved the creased piece of paper in front of his face.

"Do you want it, or not?" She asked, picking her broom up from off the ground and waving it around a bit for effect. He continued to think for a second, studying her face, trying to see any interior motives that she might have. She began to tap her foot with impatience. "I'm waiting, Jacky." He sighed once again.

"Very well," He said slowly. With a satisfied nod, she handed the paper to him. He took it and stood up. He dusted off his jacket and began to walk towards home.

"I wouldn't use lilies, by the way."

He paused and turned around.

"Why?"

Shock shrugged.

"Tearaway's allergic."

**A/N: I know, I know, it's kind of short. And I'm sorry because my personal deadline for this was Monday... Well, anyway, I give you the second chapter of ****Break A Vase****! Thank you coraline5555, QueenSkellington, wrestlingfan438, and DarkMasterofCupcakes for your wonderful reviews! **

**~Inferno Shock**


	3. The Ribbon Basket

Chapter Three: The Ribbon Basket

* * *

That afternoon was an unusually quiet one for the three trick-or-treaters. The usual chatter had been replaced by only the scuttling sound of beetles under the furniture and around the wooden framework of the tree house. The fifteen candles that surrounded the "bug pipe", as they had taken to calling it, were all snuffed out. Consequently, the only light came from the light bulb that was hooked to the cage-like elevator and the afternoon sunlight filtering in through the assorted windows. The later proved problematic, as the sun was constantly fleeting in and out of the darkening clouds. The limited light cast more shadows than light, if anything, but it provided enough illumination to be able to read the graffiti modifications of "L, S, and B" to "sLug, Stupid, and Brat" on the tally board they had painted on the wall.

The trio themselves were situated around their hybrid couch, which was made up of a normal, battered sofa and an elegant, mahogany leather chair. Well, they were situated as best as they could and as they pleased, anyway. Shock had lain down on the couch so that she took up most of the space, watching one of her scorpions scurry around on the fabric of her dress over her stomach. It paused at intervals only when she ran a gloved finger over his scaly back, to which he uttered a weird, almost metallic noise. Barrel was lying on his stomach on the floor, skewering stray toffees with the prongs of his trident. Lock was seated next to him with his head flopped back on the couch by Shock's shoes, staring up at the ceiling.

"This is boring," The devil declared suddenly, running a hand through his own cherry red hair that was splayed on the couch. Barrel only tugged a yellow candy off of his trident and stuck it in his mouth, and Shock made no acknowledgment of him at all. "Thanks for caring," Lock muttered scornfully.

Silence returned to the tree house as soon as he shut his mouth. A soft orange glow from the sun filled the room once again, spilling over the décor, furniture, and dirty floor. A large beetle cautiously peaked out from under the couch, and then madly ran out towards the cannon, only to get abruptly impaled by a spade of the metal trident. The youngest of the Boogie's Boys lifted the weapon to his face, watching as the insect thrashed helplessly on the head of the middle spike. His metallic eyes followed the bug's every movement with an only mildly interested look on his face.

"I'm going for a walk," Shock announced, sitting up, accidentally kicking her devilish friend in the head as she did.

"Ow!" He exclaimed, shooting a fierce look at her.

"Why?" Barrel asked, looking over.

"To get away from you morons," She replied, slipping her pet scorpion back into its box.

"Yeah, that's us!" Lock growled with sarcasm through his shark-like teeth, rubbing his skull, "Lock and Barrel: Shock's _stupid_ friends." Barrel started to snicker, but quickly stopped.

"Oh, cry me a river," The witch retorted, rolling her eyes. She stepped into the makeshift elevator and closed the door behind her. After a moment, the cage jolted before automatically beginning to descend downward, turning slowly as it went so that she would be facing the bridge. The land got dim again as a cloud swallowed the sun. The oversized cage lurched to a stop, and it took a moment for her to realize that she was no longer moving, but as soon as she did, she threw open the door and stepped out onto the bridge. Shock began to cross the bridge, heading for the land on the other side of the abyss surrounding the tree house, grumbling to herself. She didn't notice the obstacle in her path until she reached solid ground. The tip of her shoe caught it, and she was flipped forwards over the object. Rubbing her knee, which she had landed on, the trickster stood and turned to examine the cause of her fall.

It was a wicker basket. It was very simple, with no designs or otherwise flamboyant distractions. The only thing that came close to it was a small chartreuse ribbon that was tied neatly on the top of the handle. She had tipped it over when she had hit it, so with curiosity nipping at her, she picked it up. The contents had somehow managed to not fall out with the sudden jolt. Upon further inspection, she discovered a small note that had been stuffed in the rag that was folded in the basket. She pulled it out and opened it, immediately noting that whoever had written it had very shaky handwriting. It only had a few words, which was a relief, as she could not read the unfamiliar writing very easily.

_I thoght you mite like these_

_Sally_

As soon as she read the name, Shock understood why the handwriting was so poor. Sally was biologically less than half of the witch's age – Shock remembered when Dr. Finklestein had first made the rag doll – and was still growing accustomed to the world. She had not even held a pen until recently, which also explained the spelling and grammatical errors. Sally had been unconscious for five days, so she clearly had finally awoken. Still, Shock couldn't help but be highly amused that she could write and spell better than an "adult". With her curiosity now peaked, she tucked the card into the side of the basket and unfolded the dull red rag. Inside were a cluster of baked bat wings, three muffins (which, judging by their scent, were made with fresh pumpkin), and a clutch of salted and roasted pumpkin seeds. Each was contained in a separate clear plastic bag. Shock was puzzled. The trio of trick-or-treaters had pushed the king's fiancée down a flight of stairs, and she gave them food? If she hadn't known better, she would've suspected that Sally had spiked the treats. After a moment, the young enchantress slid a pumpkin seed in her mouth and crossed the bridge once again, forgetting about her intended walk. She climbed in the cage, ready to inform her cohorts of her discovery.

* * *

"I don't know, Jack, it seems like so much work... maybe we should just sign documents for it?"

"Nonsense! We'll handle this just fine, don't you worry. Now, what are your thoughts on bridesmaids, groomsmen...?"

The king was struggling to pull his socks on as his soon-to-be consort was seated on a chair, hunched over a small book. She had been like that ever since she had come down the stairs; curled up reading a tip book about planning weddings while Jack ran around the house, trying to get ready for his meeting. Although she had been uneasy about it at first, he had encouraged her to jot down their ideas on the margins of the pages. She was still in her nightgown, which made her feel strangely small, when added to the fact that she could easily curl up on the armchair in the sitting room.

"I really think that maybe we shouldn't have those, Jack," She responded quietly. The skeleton looked up in surprise, hobbling on one foot as he attempted to pull his sock onto his foot.

"Why not?"

"Well, don't you think that it might spring up bias in the citizens? And I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings if we don't include them..."

"You have a good point, there. All right, no groomsmen, bridesmaids, or the like... er, write that down."

"Jack?"

"Yes, my dear?"

"Could we keep the children's places?"

"The ring bearer and the flower girl?"

"Yes, those. I'd really like to keep them, if it's not too much trouble."

"Of course. Good luck fitting Carmella into a dress, though," Jack chuckled. Sally said nothing, but forced a smile back, "Now, do you have your dress planned out?"

"Yes, I do. It's-" Sally was abruptly cut off.

"Ah-ah!" Jack corrected, slipping his shoes on, "The groom can't know what the dress looks like until the wedding, dear Sally."

"Oh," She said, blinking in surprise. She wasn't familiar with weddings, much less with the strange customs that went along with it. The master of fright smiled warmly at her.

"It's okay, you're still new to this stuff. Besides, if all goes well, you will only have to go through it once. Now, we need to write our vows, and-"

"Jack?"

"Yes?"

"What are those?"

Jack blinked. "Oh, um... I'm sorry, Sally, I forgot how much you didn't know." Sally looked down into her lap, her cheeks turning violet. "Oh, Sally, I didn't mean it like that! Listen, I have to run, but when I come back, I'll explain everything to you, okay?" She nodded, a small, glassy tear running down her cheek. He gave her a quick kiss on her ruby lips and a last, encouraging smile before exiting out the door.

* * *

Shock sat in a tree that gave her a good view of the huge graveyard later in the evening, watching the sunset. The tree was huge, and had branches that looked more like claws that any tree she had seen before it. The tree's "talons" provided an excellent seat with their size, provided that one could climb. She had dared to climb up to one of the branches in the middle, and she estimated that she was some thirty feet up, but it didn't bother her. She wasn't afraid of heights, and she could see the entire graveyard. Apparently, seeing something from the ground and seeing it from above were two entirely different experiences, as her position taught her. The young witch looked around, and was surprised to see a familiar wave of crimson hair in the distance, knelt down next to something that she couldn't see. Shock swallowed the last of her pumpkin muffin, slipped her extra jawbreakers into her hat, and clambered down from the tree. On foot, it took her longer to reach the part of the graveyard with Spiral Hill in it then she had counted on, but when she did, Sally hadn't moved. She forced down an impending giggle and crept up behind the future queen without making a sound. The bogeyman's ex-hench girl peered over the rag doll's shoulder, and raised a thin eyebrow at the sight.

"What is that?" Shock asked without even realizing that she had spoken. Sally jumped and wildly spun around. That set her off; Shock erupted into a fountain of high-pitched cackles, wrapping her arms around her ribcage, as if to keep it from bursting. "Oh man, Sally," She said once she had calmed down, "You're so jumpy!" Sally gave a weary smile. (Whether it was from being scared or from drowsiness, Shock couldn't tell.)

"Hello, Shock," She rag doll greeted with a small nod.

"Hey, Sal'," The young enchantress returned with a curt nod, peering over the patchwork maiden's shoulder again. "What _is_ that?"

"What? This?" Sally asked, nodding to a small yellow flower that was sprouting out of the ground. Shock nodded, spinning slightly to the side and back on her heels, making her hair viciously whip her face like a bunch of venomous snakes. "I-It's just a flower."

"It's weird," Shock added, staring at the yellow petals as if they had gravely offended her.

"I suppose it is," Sally reluctantly agreed, "Different."

Neither of them spoke for a few moments. Then, Sally stood up, picking at a thread on the hem of her dress.

"Hey, Sal'?" The young witch asked suddenly, just as Sally opened her ruby lips to bid her "goodbye".

"I – yes, Shock?"

"Why'd you give us those treats?"

The patchwork creation was suddenly very interested in the stitching that held her hand to her wrist, "I just wanted to... help you out, I suppose. I mean, you three have been living on your own for a while now, a-and that can't be easy, so..."

"It's not really that hard," Shock countered, "We just take Oogie's old money, or steal whatever we need," Noticing the saddened look on the rag doll's face, she quickly added in a near whisper, "Thanks for the treats, though. They're really good." Sally smiled warmly, her face glowing.

"You're welcome. I could send you more when I get the chance, if you want."

Swallowing her pride with massive difficulty, Shock mumbled, "That'd be nice." Sally turned to leave, before she was stopped once again. Not by the trickster, but her own thoughts. Biting her lip, she turned to face the witch, who looked ready to leave herself.

"Shock?"

Irked at being jolted out of her thoughts, Shock snapped, "What?"

"You know how Jack and I are getting married in the summer?"

Shock sent her a suspicious look, and replied slowly, "Yes."

"Well... would you like to be the flower girl?"

That was clearly the very last thing that the female Boogie's Boy expected her to say. She looked at Sally with a disbelieving look on her face, peering at her eyes so intensely that Sally felt like she was trying to see right through to her soul.

"Why _me_?" Was the first thing out of her lips. The rag doll was taken aback.

"Well... I..."

"I'll think about it," Shock said, apparently having not heard her at all, or having completely ignored her. Sally nodded.

"That's all I can ask. I'll see you later, then, I expect?" Shock made no movement, but Sally decided to take it as a "yes", nevertheless.

"But, Sally?" Sally resisted the urge to sigh, and simply responded.

"Yes, Shock?"

"If you tell anybody, and I do mean _anybody_, that I said the 't' word..." Apparently for the lack of a proper word, the witch simply made a violent movement at her throat imitating slicing, but it got the point across.

"I won't tell," Sally assured her, forcing back a smile.

* * *

**A/N: For those of you out there who haven't read "Waiting For The Next Surprise" from DarkMasterofCupcakes, she and I were talking and we decided that the Gargoyle Kid/Withered Wing Demon is female. DMC named her Carmella, so credit to her! **

***Inferno Shock***


	4. The Scales

Chapter Four: The Scales

* * *

Jack and Sally's wedding had been postponed.

Once word leaked out, there was much discussion about what the citizens imagined had caused such a decision. They kept these conversations private, of course, but everybody knew they were talking.

There had been no official word about the motive behind the move, so the townspeople took it into their own hands to come up with every possibility, each more bizarre than the one before it.

A few of the denizens who weren't as interested in such canards offered that the king and his girlfriend had realized they were taking things too fast. Others considered that something had happened in Jack's family (this was subject to many skeptics, as almost nobody knew if Jack even had contact with his family, or if he even had family left), and some of the more hopeful females whispered that Jack was losing interest in the rag doll.

The unexpected decision had caused not only new gossip to arise, but they heard old bits of gossip bubble up, as well. Some, like others saying that Jack would gain nothing for marrying the doctor's creation, weren't so much gossip as observation.

They had heard almost all the gossip there was to hear; they weren't interested in it in the least, but the other citizens simply didn't bother to keep them from overhearing. It wasn't uncommon for them to be completely ignored, which they couldn't say they minded.

On the other hand, when they walked into the Witches' Shop and managed to walk out without paying a cent for what they took right under the witches' noses, they grew confused. So the king and supposed-to-be-queen decided that their originally planned date wasn't going to work, so what?

The truth had been and continued to be so blurred so much that they didn't know what to trust anymore – and that was coming from the three best liars in the village.

One of the vampires claimed that Jack and Sally had had a fight, and that he had kicked her out of the house. Another added that she was now staying with her creator again. The younger witch, Hilda (or was it Helga? They always mixed the two witches' names up), claimed that the rag doll had been discovered being unfaithful to him (she added that Jack had come to _her _for consolation, and that _she_ had been the one to discover the girl's treachery).

Boogie's Boys (even with their guardian dead and gone, they never said "no" to the title) didn't believe any of it.

They didn't know much about Sally (they knew plenty of Jack, of course, from their brief encounters with him and his not-so-secret admirers, as well as their esteemed guardian, who used to mention him on occasion), as she had never really sparked their interest, even when they heard of her birth as the doctor's first living creation, but they figured they knew enough to say two things: for one, she didn't seem like the kind of person to get into a conflict with anybody, or even stand up for herself. Second... well, they couldn't see how anybody could think that she would even think to cheat on somebody, even if she had fallen out of love with them.

Still, they avoided the gossip debate. It was one thing they didn't think was worth getting themselves

Sally and Shock had not seen one another since their encounter in the graveyard, and Shock had not shared the rag doll's proposition with her housemates. She didn't need to tell them to know their reactions: laugh so hard that their faces turn blue, realize that she was serious, laugh some more, and then tell her how ridiculous she would look in a white dress carrying a basket of flower petals. (Even she had to admit that they had a point.)

She hadn't made her decision regarding the proposition itself, either. She couldn't help but be tempted on it, but the more she thought about it, the less she liked the idea. The idea remained on an invisible set of white-gold scales, which would occasionally dip so dangerously on one side that she was sometimes certain that she would decline next time she saw the blue-skinned blodeuwedd, but the decision remained not set in stone.

"That was an illegal move!" The dark-haired witch shrieked, unintentionally standing in her vehemence as she watched her lamia queen crumple and drag herself off of the game board after a blow from her green-haired friend's same piece. Her friends looked up at her, puzzled and slightly startled by the sudden move.

"How was that an illegal move? Pieces can be killed by another of their own rank or higher, you know that," Lock argued, tugging the ends of his blanket together in front of his throat. Shock huffed, but sat down.

The threesome were up surprisingly late for their usual routine; they usually got ready for bed at ten o'clock, fell asleep anywhere from then to eleven thirty, and were all awake by nine. Tonight, however, the clock on the wall behind the young necromancer showed a clear one twenty in the morning.

The three former henchmen of the bogeyman were huddled in their nightclothes around a thick game board, where several differently styled tombstones sat on a handful of the spaces. They were playing a game of "tomb chess" – altered to fit three players, of course – while seated around the board in various positions. They had pulled Lock and Barrel's (who shared a room and bunk bed) mattresses off of their beds and onto the floor so they didn't have to sit on the hard floor. They were settled in a triangle; Lock was lying on his stomach with his wool blanket draped over his shoulders like a cloak, his head being held up by his fists; Shock was sitting cross-legged semi-opposite him, and Barrel (who was constantly changing position in his need to be comfortable) currently sat with his legs straight out in front of him, leaning backwards and using his arms to support his weight so that he wouldn't fall.

Silence fell over the room, and it did not lift, even as the tombstones on the board disappeared and the number of bewitched figurines that had been banished from the board for the rest of the round.

"I ran into Sally a couple weeks ago," Said Shock casually, her sentence slicing through the silence like the blade of a sword as she directed a ghostly pawn a space closer to her devilish friend's demon king, which he in turn quickly moved away.

"That's nice," Lock said absentmindedly, carefully watching the ghoul's move and stroking his pointed chin in a rather villainous fashion (which, she suspected, he did on purpose).

"She wanted me to be in the wedding," She continued, ignoring his aloof tone, "She asked me to be the flower girl."

Barrel's already round eyes widened before he burst into a fit of laughter, falling over from the intense laughing. Lock was much slower in comprehending what his female cohort had said – much more interested in defeating one of the ghoul's pieces right under his nose – but once he did, he couldn't help but howl with laughter himself, clutching his sides and creating a slightly blue tint to his skin. Her sea green lips twisted into a frown as she watched them laugh (not like she had expected anything else).

"And... And what did you say?" Barrel asked, gasping for breath and returning a few pieces that he had knocked over to their spaces while they snapped irritably but incoherently at him.

"I told her I wasn't interested, of course," She lied, hoping that they wouldn't notice.

"Well, no kidding! Who does she think she is, anyway, asking _you_?" Barrel said, wriggling his three-toed feet and wrestling a sticky taffy off of the floor, popping it into his mouth.

Lock, on the other hand, did not look convinced. He narrowed his eyes at her, studying her, and she looked away, cursing his ability to see through to weaknesses and, apparently, lies fit into that category.

"I'm going to bed," She announced, suddenly standing up, jolting the game board.

"But we're not fin-" The devil began to protest, but she had already left the room.

* * *

**A/N: Yikes! I haven't updated this since October! –Dodges burning pitchfork- I'm so, so, very sorry! I hope you're still with me, out there. If not... I deserve it. Anyway, yes, this story may actually be developing a plot! ...Or, at least a subplot. Lock, Shock, and Barrel demanded more spotlight (how could I say no?), but Jack and Sally will return in the next chapter, guaranteed.**

**This chapter was inspired by the silliest thing: I was playing a game of Tomb Chess (you can find it very easily if you simply Google it), which happens to be my favorite version of chess, and I suddenly got the idea to have The Boys play it. A few nights later, the first sentence popped into my head and I thought it was a great idea to get the ball rolling on this story again. Thus, this chapter was born. It was supposed to be updated on Tuesday, but, unfortunately, I had several ideas for other stories looming above my head, and to add further to the distraction, angelbones and Hedwig446 both updated stories that I was following. But, I got it up eventually!**

**~*Inferno Shock*~**


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